Chapter 190 - 141: The Shocking 400,000

The other Thief Kings were full of contempt.

"Since when do petty thieves save money? Damn it, he’s a disgrace to our ancestors!"

"Then where did he spend all the money?"

Qian Hua grew suspicious again.

Thieves don’t have a habit of saving. They usually live hand-to-mouth, spending whatever they steal and stealing whatever they need to spend.

’Saving money?’

’What for? To get married?’

Even if that were true, it didn’t fit a killer in this situation.

In other words...

"The killer, Sun Jiang, committed multiple thefts within a month, stealing a total of one hundred thousand yuan."

"And right now, he’s facing certain death—execution after his inevitable arrest—yet he has no way to spend the money he just stole."

Xu Huo spoke. His voice wasn’t loud, but it was crisp, and every word was perfectly clear.

If you were about to die, would you still work yourself to the bone, pulling overtime for your boss?

You wouldn’t.

There was once a rumor that swept the globe.

The 2012 apocalypse. After that rumor spread, countless people threw themselves into a final, hedonistic frenzy. Believing their time was short, they took out loans and spent lavishly.

The killer, on the other hand, effectively "took out a loan" before his death, but he didn’t spend it lavishly!

This was clearly illogical.

A petty thief steals to spend. If you’re not going to spend it, what’s the point of being a damn thief?

Especially when facing imminent capture!

Numerous doubts ran through his mind.

Finally, Xu Huo looked up at the four people before him.

"Time to assign tasks."

"Huang Song, go to the wealthy district. Search the homes of the theft victims for any clues related to Sun Jiang."

"Sima Li, trace the money."

"Chen Song, get ahead of him. Analyze his past movements to predict his next target, and take a team to stake it out."

"Li Xue, investigate all the local thief gangs. Each of you will be assigned a ten-man police detail."

Xu Huo buried the question deep in his mind. He looked at the people around him and said in a low voice:

"Go!"

Everyone scattered in an instant.

The four Thief Kings from the last century were led away to begin the city-wide manhunt.

Only Xu Huo, Li Jianye, and a few others remained.

"What do we do?"

Li Jianye frowned.

"Investigate the stolen funds."

Xu Huo said nothing more and turned toward the police car.

"The funds?"

"The stolen money?"

Li Jianye was surprised, but he followed him.

"For now, let’s think about why he’s stealing the money."

"Setting aside the fact that he’s a thief, is there a connection between the murders and the thefts?"

Xu Huo asked as he sat in the car, directing the driver to their destination.

Qian Hua thought for a moment, then nodded.

"There is."

"From the killer’s point of view, the murders are the primary objective; the money should be insignificant by comparison."

"For two such unrelated actions, on completely different levels of importance, to happen at the same time... it must mean that in his eyes, they are equal."

Qian Hua explained.

For example.

When you’re walking to school and see a dollar on the ground, you might pick it up. Going to school and picking up a dollar are unrelated, but there’s no major conflict between the two actions.

Neither one has an overwhelmingly higher priority.

But what if there’s a crazed brown bear behind you?

When a bear is chasing you and you’re running for your life, forget a dollar—even if there was a gold bar in front of you, would you stop to pick it up?

You wouldn’t.

Right now, the killer’s situation is like the second example.

The police are the bear. In this scenario, he should be completely focused on escaping. It makes no sense for him to be picking up loose change by the roadside.

It might make sense if this money was his life savings.

But this is just money he can steal anytime. There’s no reason for it to be so precious!

"Unless it’s connected to the case."

"In other words, the killer’s objectives include two parallel tracks: stealing a certain amount of money, and murdering people."

Xu Huo nodded in agreement.

Thieves like Huang Song, if nothing else, are extremely sensitive to money.

The murder scene and the traces left behind didn’t faze them. Instead, the first thing they latched onto was the fact that Sun Jiang had stolen money!

"But that brings us back to the question."

"What does he need the money for?"

Li Jianye, sitting in the front passenger seat, turned around and looked quizzically at the two in the back.

"I’ve seen people kill for money."

"But a case where murder and money are separate, yet on the same level of priority... I’ve never seen anything like it."

The previous bombing case in Linlan City was a murder for money.

But nothing like the current case.

"Could it be related to the source of the original conflict?"

An idea suddenly struck Li Jianye.

He looked at the others and continued to analyze:

"Could it be that six years ago, when the victims targeted the killer’s family, aside from causing two deaths, they also did something money-related that caused some kind of secondary harm!?"

As he said this, the others paused, then exchanged glances.

"That’s actually possible." Xu Huo nodded, not denying it.

"The city inspector incident six years ago resulted in two deaths, but the number of people targeted for revenge now has clearly surpassed that."

"If we assume one life for one life, that means there are at least four other people involved that the police don’t know about!"

A flash of insight struck Qian Hua.

He hurriedly voiced his thoughts.

"The hidden victims from six years ago..."

"Could they be people whose financial situation changed—for better or worse—as a result of the city inspectors’ actions!?"

Was it possible?

It was very possible!

"In that case..."

"Should we investigate the social circles of the two original victims?"

Qian Hua looked to Xu Huo.

First of all, the killer is the victims’ grandson—an unregistered grandson. He was most likely present at the scene of the city inspector incident six years ago.

And if he was at the scene, he was at the place of business—the spot where they had their street stall.